Source : Perth Now news
Shocking footage has emerged of a Perth teenager dancing on top of a decomposing 31-tonne humpback whale at City Beach, in an act that has been slammed as “wholly inappropriate”.
The now-deleted TikTok video showed a young person clambering onto the beached mammal, jumping around, and performing the “Griddy” — a viral dance move featuring alternating heel taps, swinging arms, and “OK” hand gestures over the eyes.
WATCH THE SHOCKING VISION IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE
The stunt came to an abrupt end when a wave struck the side of the whale, jolting the teen off-balance and forcing them to sit down on the carcass before sliding off onto the shore.
Town of Cambridge mayor Gary Mack slammed the act as “wholly inappropriate,” warning of severe health and safety risks.
“We don’t know the structural integrity of that. We don’t know what the bacteria is. People shouldn’t be doing that at all,” Mr Mack said.
“The fact that a whale’s lost its life is one thing, and it’s not a play thing. It’s very serious. We do know that there’s some pretty big sharks out there, and they can come right within the break.”
“I’m not sure what the penalty regime is, but I would hope people’s idea of sense of self-safety and preservation would play a big factor here. It’s not a toy. It’s actually a dead animal.”
The incident comes as authorities instructed the public to stay away from the shoreline between South City Beach and Floreat Beach on Tuesday while heavy machinery works to extract the 13-metre carcass.
The beach exclusion zone has been set up to allow contractors to safely load the whale onto transport to be taken to a landfill site.
Mr Mack urged beachgoers and sightseers to respect the exclusion zone and cease unauthorised filming, noting public drones have already disrupted operations.
“What we don’t want is drones to be flying over the area because that will potentially interfere with helicopters and also the boats that are out there to assist us,” Mr Mack said.
“It’s very unhelpful… it poses a risk to Surf Life Saving assets.”
The whale, which washed ashore around 7.30am on Monday, triggered an immediate frenzy of shark activity just off the coast.
Great white sharks ranging between three and five metres in length were spotted swimming as close as 10 metres from the shoreline.
Receivers logged multiple pings from tagged great white sharks near City Beach and Floreat into the late hours of Monday night.
In response, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development set drum lines on Tuesday to tag the predators drawn in by the carcass, while officers from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions set up barricades to keep crowds at a distance.
Authorities stressed that South City Beach remains unpatrolled and warned swimmers not to enter the water until the carcass is completely removed and the area is declared safe.
“Wild carcasses attract sharks, and neither people nor their pets should actually go into the water at all while the beach is closed,” Mr Mack said.
“Once the carcass is removed, swim between the flags. That’s where the concentration of life-saving assets are… if in doubt, steer clear.”
